Telegraphic transmitter.



N o. 738,525. PATENTED SEPT. 8, i903.

I J. P. CONWAY.

l 'I'E1'.|EGR.APHIC TRANSMITTER. y APPLIoAToN FILED mmm 1 902.

UNITED STATES 'Patented September 8, 1903.

PATENT -Orrion TELEeRAPi-ilo TRANSMITTER.

SPECIFICATION forming partof- Letters PatenuNo. 738,525, dated September8,\190`3. -Y Application filed August l5, 1902. Serial No. 119,814. (Nomodel.)

Be it known that I, JOsEPH'P. CONWAY, a citizen of the -UnitedStates,residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and Stateof California, have invented new and useful Improvements in TelegraphicTrans-4 mitters,

Of Whichthe following is a specification. y f i t My invention relatesto telegraphic transmitters for sendin g electric signals according tothe Morse alphabet or any other predetermined electric signals; and theObjects thereof areto provide a machine of simple construction andoperation with which a person skilled in type-writing can send atelegram in the Morse alphabet much more quickly than. thesame canbesent by hand by the most skilful telegraph operator. I

accomplish these objects by the mechanism" described herein andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is aperspective view of my transmitteiwith a portion of the case removed forclearness of illustration. Fig. 2 is a detail of construction. of thedepression-bar.

In the telegraph system now in use, especially when using the ordinarykey in connection with the Morse sounder and sending I all signalsentirely by hand, the operator is liable to make mistakes in the letteror word and to jumble the letters and Words together in an indistinctmanner. Again, it is impossible to send with any great speed, as thereis amaximum limit to sending by hand.

' According to my invention a keyboard of any standard type-writer isused, together with connecting mechanism, so that as the keyrepresenting a certain letter is depressed the Morse or otherpredetermined signal corresponding to that letter Or character will, betransmitted to the receiving-station. All the sending operator has to dois to' press these keys consecutively to spell the word and send themessage, and he can send with as high a rapidity as it is possible touse .the ordinary typewriter, each word and letter thereof being sont ata uniform speed. Since the make and break of the contact is doneautomatically and at a uniform rate, the Work of the receiver will bemuch easier. p

In my machine, A is the case,which incluses Fig. 3 is an isometric view.

themetallic key-levers I3, which are provided vwith finger-buttons C,with characters there- On in the manner common to keyboards of'type-writers. These key-levers are pivotaliy mounted on metallic rods D,`which gitndinally the ease and transversely through partitions E, of'non -c'onducting' material, which extend transversely through the case,separating the rows Of keys from each other and providing suitablesupports for'the rods and for the stop-,pins F. Wooden partitions I havefound to be suitable. These rods are electrically connected by' themetallic strip G to the wire Hjof the telegraph-line. Rods L also runlongitudinally the case and transtrically connected'together by themetallic strip I. These rods are -connected to the -verselythrough thepartitions and are elecpositive pole of battery J by strips I and Y'wire M. The negative pole of the batteryl is electrically connected byWire K with the ground. On rods 'L are rigidly secured the metallic1contact-springs N. Thesesprings are supported near their junction withthe rods by supporting-pins O, driven in the partitions.' On Vthe bottomof the key-levers are formed contact-points or electric characters P toelectrically produce the different letters of the Morse alphabet orother predetermined electric signals, the fingerbutton on the topbeingthe representative of the electric character on the bottom of the lever.These key-levers `are held normally out of engagement with thecontact-springs by retractile springs R, which also return the keys totheir normal position after the key is depressed by the' finger of theoperator. Iivotally mounted on the same rods as the key-levers aredepressing-bars Syeach of which has two arms S and S", which li'e in`the path of movement of the lower arm of the key-lever and are movedthereby, the extent of the movement being limited by the stop-pins F.key-lever bears against the 'arm S of the depression-bar and holds itspring-pressed against a stop-pin. In this position the keylever doeshot engage with the contact-spring. When an operator desires to send amessage, he strikes successively the iinger buttons which have theappropriate'characters thereon which spell out the message. As the topNormally the lower arm of the roo Vmakes and breaks the circuit.

arm is depressed the lower arm of the keylever is elevated and passesover the contactspring, the points thereof engaging therewith,

' and thereby making and'breaking the circuit in the same manner t-hatthe Morse key The upward movement of the lower arm of the key-levercausesit to strikeua-gainst the arm S" of the depression-bar anti tocarry it until its movement is arrested by the stop-pin F in its path.

` This movement of the depression-bar brings the central arm S" into aposition where it rests upon and holds contact-spring` N devpressedfar-.enough that.' on the downward -movement of the lower arm of thekey-lever the contact-points thereof will not engage `therewith. As soonas the operator releases the pressure on the upper arm of the key-le'ver the retraction-spring returns the lever to its normal position. Inreturning to its norm'al position the lower arm of the key-lel fthelower arm of the key-laver whenever itisj again moved upward. Thedepression-bar is made of-any suitable non-conducting material. I havefound fiber very satisfactory. It will be seen that by the use ofmymachine all vsignals will be uniformly correct and even and that thespeed with whichv a message can be sent is only limited by the speedwith which an operator can operate the v keys and that any person whocan operate a type-writer can operate the ir achine and send telegraphicmessages.

Having described vmy invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters' Patent, is-

1. In a telegraphic transmitter, -a casing; a

Y plurality of centrally-pivotedl metallic levers mounted in said casingand electrically connected together, said levers having fingerbuttons onthe upper arms and contact-points 4 on the lower arms thereof; saidfinger-buttons being provided with known characters on the top thereof,and said contact-points.

on the lower armbeing the telegraphic representative of the topcharacters; a plurality of contact-springs electrically connectedtogether and to the positive pole of a battery,

the free ends of which said springs .bcingl adapted to lie in the pathof movementofthe said contact-points of the said key-levers; insulating'pivoted depression bars having arms on either side of the lower arm ofsaid key-levers and lying in the path thereof and adapted to be movedtherebyI and a central arm adapted to be` moved to depress thecontact-springs on the upward movement of the lower arm of saidkey-levers and to hold the same depressed' until the passagethereover ofsaid contact-points of said key-lever on the downward movement of thelower arm thereof and then to'be removed thereby'from saidcontact-spring; a battery having the negative pole thereof electricallygrounded.

v- 2. In a-telegraphic transmitter, a casing; a plurality otpivotedkey-levers mounted in said casing and electrically' connected together,said levers having finger-buttons providedwith known characters ontheupper arm and contact-points on the lower arm, said contact-pointsbeing the electrical representatives of the top characters;contact-springs electrically connected together having the tops thereofin tre path-of movement of the said contactpoints-of saidAkey-levers,said springs and levers being normally insulated from eachother and adapted to contact on the upward movement of the lower arm ofthe y said contact-lever; and means to move and retain the saidcontact-spring out of the path of the said contact-points of saidkey-lever lon the downward movement of the lower arm thereof. l

3. In a telegraph transmitter, a casing; a contact-spring; a pivotedkey-lever having contact points on the lower end thereof adapted toengage said contact-spring on the upward movement ot' the lower end ofsaid key-lever; an insulating depression-bar having arms adapted tolieon both sides of and be moved upward and downward by said keylever, acentral arm `adapted to be moved by said key-lever to remove and holdsaid conl tact-spring out of engagement with the contact-pointsof saidkey-lever on the downward movement of the lower end thereof.

In witness thatIclaim the foregoing-:I have hereunto subscribed my namethis 4th day of August, 1002.

JOS. l. CONWAY.

lVitnesses: G. E. HARPHAM,

M. C. NICKELESON.

IOO

